With a Whimper
by Born with wings
Summary: The bomb explodes and the world explodes with it. Warnings: Character death, violence
1. The Way The World Ends

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters**

The bomb explodes and the world explodes with it.

Erik holds tight to Charles with one hand, the other clenched into an immovable fist, holding their metal prison in place around them. The outside world shatters to pieces but Erik holds firm against the onslaught. He fancies he can hear screaming outside, imagines Moira standing where they left her, skin melting from her face and bones blowing into ashes, but it's only the ringing in his ears.

Charles trembles beneath his arm. One of the boys sobs quietly in the silence.

The heat beneath the metal sheets is unbearable but Erik is unwilling to shed away their protection. Charles' skin blisters against him, Hank pants somewhere in the darkness, Erik sweats and grits his teeth and tightens his fist because he can feel his control on the metal slipping. Charles shifts like he's about to speak but Erik clamps him against his side and the telepath falls silent.

It's an age before anyone makes a sound.

It's Sean, of course, who speaks first, and Erik thinks that he's the one who was crying because his voice is thick and choked with tears.

"Is it over?" he asks in a tremulous voice and Erik suddenly feels guilty though he doesn't know why. '_It's because you wanted this,' _a traitorous voice whispers in the back of his mind and he savagely pushes the thought away because he hadn't really. Not like this.

Charles shifts beside him and reaches out a comforting hand through the dark to grip the boy's arm reassuringly. "I think so," he whispers and Raven starts to cry. Erik can hear Sean's shuddering breath and suddenly he feels angry and ashamed. He wants to crush the metal down around them and keep them there forever.

_'Erik,' _Charles reaches tentatively towards his mind, _'I think we can come out now, if you would be kind enough to -'_ but Erik interrupts him with a growl. He can feel Alex's back pressed against his arm, can see Hank's blurry shape in the darkness. He feels protective, possessive, doesn't want to let them go.

_'There is only horror out there,' _he thinks and he can feel the calm rolling off of Charles like he's fooling them. But Erik can feel the panic in his mind when Charles reaches out to him again. _'We're safer in here.'_

_'I know,' _Charles agrees and Erik is surprised, feels like he's won an important argument. _'But we can't stay here forever.'_

X - X - X

The world is utterly different now. It's dark, though it isn't night yet and ash filters through the air like snow. The wispy grey particles fall soft as feathers to the earth; tangle in Sean's pale lashes, cling to Raven's crimson hair, coat Hank's fur until he looks like a yeti. Erik thinks he might laugh but the smell and the sight reminds him of the camps, of burning flesh and wide frightened eyes, so he concentrates on not being sick instead. Alex is watching him carefully, holding Charles' arm like he doesn't quite trust Erik not to fuck things up and suddenly Erik just wants to climb back into his little metal dome and hide there until he dies.

Charles is staring blankly at a blackened smudge on the earth and Erik knows with a sickening certainty that this is all that remains of Moira MacTaggert. Raven staggers to Charles' side, wraps slender limbs around him and buries her face in his neck. There is a soft thump as Sean falls to his knees. Erik can hear him praying almost silently under his breath. Charles doesn't speak but a tear slides down his cheek and hangs, shimmering, from the soft curve of his jaw.

"They're gone," Charles whispers, sounding bewildered, and Sean makes a choking noise where he's kneeling in the ash. Alex is still clinging to Charles' arm but Erik suspects it's for his own reassurance now - sees right through the boy's tough-guy facade to the scared kid underneath. "They're gone," Charles repeats and Erik feels irrational anger flare in his chest because Moira is dead and they can't change that now. They're still alive and Charles needs to remember that.

"Don't just stand there Charles," he snaps, and he knows he's being unfair but he can't bring himself to care. "We need to move, get off this island." He grips Sean firmly by the elbow and pulls the boy to his feet, keeps his hand on his arm once he's standing because he's frightened that he'll just collapse again if Erik lets him go. Hank shifts closer to him, until he can feel his fur tickling the bare skin of his arm. Alex and Raven look up simultaneously and they're all staring at him with wide, terrified eyes, looking like little lost kids. Erik feels the urge to wrap them in his arms and protect them from the world. Charles doesn't look at him but he moves into action, and Erik is glad because he needs him, even if it scares him to admit it.

X - X - X

He can't remember how they got off of the island. It was Hank that did it, and Erik is unendingly proud of him for it. He thinks, perhaps, that this is what it feels like to be a parent, only Erik wouldn't know because he's never been one before. He can't help feeling proud anyway and he tells Hank as much when they make it to the mainland, still in one piece, if a little shaken. The boy beams at him and Erik smiles back and for a moment he forgets that the world has been blown to pieces.

X - X - X

It's cold. _'Colder than it has any right to be,' _thinks Erik as he huddles closer into his jacket. Raven had found the coats - had slipped into an abandoned house and found them secreted in a cupboard beneath the stairs. They had survived the explosion, mostly, and Erik is immensely glad of them now in the frigid night.

Charles rolls over until he's leaning against Erik and presses his freezing hands to the small of the metal-bender's back. Erik flinches at the unexpected touch, grimaces as Charles leaches away his heat, greedily spreading his hands across Erik's skin.

There's a small commotion at the back of the shelter that Erik had scouted out earlier that night and suddenly Raven's beside them, her eyes bright, breath misting in the cold. "You're awake," she whispers, although the boys are clearly awake too, their eyes shining in the darkness.

"Of course I am," Erik snarls, "I'm supposed to be on watch."

Charles rolls over, smiles kindly at his sister and Erik feels cold at the loss of his touch. "You're supposed to be asleep."

She huffs, pushes her way between them like a child. "I'm cold," she replies simply, curling her body tight around Charles. The telepath hums good-naturedly and strokes his sister's hair. Erik isn't surprised when Alex crawls over, a hesitant smile on his face and Sean and Hank huddled behind him. He thinks he should be, but the boys slip so easily into place beside Charles that it looks like they belong there. He smiles and for a moment it is as if they're at home - as if they're a real family.

_'You haven't got a home anymore,' _that vindictive voice in his head whispers and suddenly they're nothing but kids, covered in grime and ash and longing for a home that no longer exists.

X - X - X

Time passes endlessly. Hank had kept track of the days at first, counting them off in his head, announcing the tally each morning as the sun struggled through the ash laden sky. He had stopped counting eventually, though Erik can't remember why. No one remembers the day anymore.

X - X - X

He dreams - bright, vivid flashes - colours he hasn't seen in an eternity in the grey, endless winter. Blue and crimson and gold; sapphire eyes and full red lips and porcelain skin. Charles' mouth curves into a coy smile. Ash tangles in his lashes and clings to his chestnut hair. It smells like burning.

"Charles?" He asks and his voice echoes strangely in his head. The telepath turns to him with a grin, his teeth glowing in the hazy grey light.

A hand touches his arm and Erik spins around, his heart leaping into his throat. But it's only Raven, blue and naked and beautiful behind him. She smiles, presses her lithe form against him, rests her crimson head on his shoulder. Erik feels Charles' fingers wind between his own and smiles. Perhaps, he lets himself think, tonight will be a good dream.

Raven peels away from him and he watches the sway of her hips as she moves. Someone laughs teasingly, light and easy like a bird. Erik tries to catch the sound but it slips away from him. He thinks of Sean because he's the only one who laughs anymore, but he can't bring the boy into focus. There's too much ash in the air.

Charles lets go of his hand and suddenly Erik is lost. The colours are dying around him, smothered in ash and dirt and suffering. Great iron gates loom out of the shadows and he reels back, a startled gasp on his lips. The air itself seems to scream.

The children stare back at him from behind the twisted metal. No one is smiling anymore. Raven reaches slender limbs through the gate towards him and Hank roars desperately beside her, thrashing against the iron like a drowning man. She flickers - flits from form to form - his mother, his father, a thousand faceless humans screaming in agony. Pain flares in Erik's chest and he lunges for her. He's shouting but he can't hear the words past the screaming in his ears and someone is holding him back, strong arms like steel around him. Erik writhes helplessly in their grip, reaching for his family and the metal of the gates shrieks and bends.

"Erik stop!" A voice commands, sounding far away in the darkness. He slumps against his restraints. His face is damp and he hadn't realised he was crying but now he can feel the strangled sobs choking in his throat. Charles' face materialises above him and, _God_, he wants to wake up.

"I'm going to count to three Erik," Charles whispers and Erik jerks convulsively against him, "and all you have to do is move the coin."

Erik tries to speak but he can't fit the words past the lump in his throat. The telepath grins and a silver coin slips between his scarlet lips like a breath. Erik blinks at it stupidly, his chest tight with fear.

"One." The coin trembles against his mouth. "Two." Erik reaches blindly for the slip of metal, knows he can move it because he's done this a thousand times. "Three." The coin falls, flashing in the weak sunlight like a warning and the metal-bender grasps at it as it slips through his fingers. Ash puffs up in a cloud of grey when the coin hits the earth and Charles explodes into a thousand bloody pieces.

X - X - X

They've been walking for so long that Erik no longer recognises where they are. They never stop in any one place for longer than a day and they scavenge any food they can find. So far they haven't met another living soul.

X - X - X

Alex is sick. He struggles to keep up as they trudge through the barren wasteland. Erik can hear his laboured breathing, the rattle of his chest as the air tangles in his lungs. He watches the boy surreptitiously. Alex's lips shine with spit, his mouth gapes open as he gasps for breath, his forehead is slick with sweat. He stops and a hoarse cough racks his thin frame.

Blood slips from his parted lips and trickles down his chin like a crimson tear.

Erik stops abruptly, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest_. 'Charles,' _he thinks, reaching out for his friend because this can't be happening. Not now. Not when they've survived for so long.

_'I know.' _The telepath is already at the boy's side. His hand on Alex's back is soft and reassuring, he touches his face gently like a kiss, wide blue eyes radiating concern. Alex tries to push him off but he doesn't have the strength.

"Alex?" Hank's voice is rough from disuse, like a growl.

"I'm fine," Alex pants, though he isn't. More blood slips to the ground and the barren earth greedily drinks it up. Alex slumps against Charles as if he can't manage to stand.

Erik watches him carefully, considering. They can't go any further today, don't need to, Erik doesn't even know where they're headed. "We'll find somewhere out of the way, where you can rest. As long as it's safe we can stay there untill you're better." He doesn't say what he's really thinking, but he can see the words as clearly in Charles' expression as if he had spoken them - _until you're dead._

Alex tries to push himself up again, grits his teeth, and when he snarls his mouth is slick with blood. "I'm fine," he says again, despite the fact that he's clinging to Charles like a child.

"It's not like we have anywhere to be," Sean says, trying to sound light-hearted. But his voice shakes when he speaks and his face is solemn and scared.

Alex acquiesces, slumps weakly against Charles. The telepath shudders and when he looks up at Erik his eyes are haunted.

X - X - X

Blood spills over Hank's shoulder. The boy pauses, looks down at the crimson stain on his chest with wide, frightened eyes and Erik can practically feel the panic rolling off of him in waves. Alex shudders against the blue mutant's back and retches again.

"Professor?" Hank whispers, turning to the telepath for reassurance, but Charles has none to offer.

"Lay him down," he says quietly instead and Hank rolls the boy carefully off his back. Alex doesn't stir. His chest rises shallowly and blood bubbles at the corner of his mouth.

"We shouldn't have moved him," Erik growls. Sean's head jerks towards him and the metal-bender cringes at the hopelessness in his own voice.

"We didn't have a choice," Charles replies calmly. He strokes Alex's hair off of his sweat-slicked forehead; his whole body is shaking and when he glances up Erik can see the abject fear in his face. He shudders, remembering the same fear as they had hidden in the darkness of their hiding spot, Erik's hand pressed cruelly against Alex's mouth because the boy was breathing loud enough to wake the dead. They hadn't been able to stay there once they'd been discovered.

Raven kneels beside them and touches Alex's face gently, like a mother. She's crying already, tears shimmering like crystals on her grimy cheeks. Alex's eyelids flicker at her touch but he doesn't have the strength to open them. His chest heaves.

"It's OK Alex," Charles whispers, his voice so choked that Erik can barely make the words out. He lays his hand across Alex's forehead and shuts his eyes. The boy moans before finally falling silent. His chest hitches, then goes still. His entire body relaxes.

_'No!'_ Erik's vision is blurry and when he blinks he feels hot tears on his cheeks. He swipes angrily at his eyes, ashamed, and his chest hurts like his ribs are broken. Beside him Sean makes a choking sound and falls to his knees. Erik thinks he might be praying. _'No, no, no,' _the word reverberates in his head because he hadn't cared about Moira, or the others, but he cares about Alex and this is fucking killing him.

"Is he -?" Hank stops, unable to say the word, and he sounds small and scared and vulnerable. Raven covers her face with her hands and keens. The sound pierces Erik's chest like an arrow.

Charles stands and he doesn't look at Erik but the metal-bender can see the pain in his friend's haggard face. "He isn't suffering anymore."

Sean sobs brokenly and ashy tears drip down his cheeks and melt into the bare, greedy earth.

Alex dies silently and the world keeps on turning.


	2. Hollow Men

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.**

They bury Alex far from the road. They have no shovels so Hank and Erik dig the hole with bare hands, scrabbling at the dirt until their fingers bleed. The earth is hard and unforgiving, so the grave is shallow, barely deep enough to cover the teenager's broken body, but it's the best they can do in the circumstances. Erik doesn't want to linger.

Still, they stand by the grave for a long time once Alex has disappeared from view. Sean sings something in Gaelic; haunting and beautiful and entirely fitting. His voice is soft, like a sigh, and Erik is glad because they're exposed out here and the last thing they need is for someone to hear them.

"I don't think -" Charles stops, choking on his words. He's standing close enough to Erik that the metal-bender can feel him shaking, and his voice is barely audible. He turns to Erik and presses his face to his chest. Erik can feel him shuddering in his bones. "I don't think I can do this anymore."

Erik tenses and his hands grip Charles tight enough to bruise. Pain is radiating from the telepath - projecting grief too immense to contain. '_No, no, no,'_ Erik thinks selfishly, because his own grief is too much and Raven is crying and Hank is dazed and bewildered and Sean is singing so quietly now that it's only a breath. He can't protect them by himself, can't save them from the horrors of this broken world. The children need Charles. He needs Charles.

Delicately, he tilts the telepath's chin up until he's staring into those sapphire eyes; a bright splash of colour in an endless world of grey. There are tears trembling on Charles' cheeks and his lashes are thick and wet. Erik brushes the crystal drops gently aside with the pad of his thumb. Charles shivers and Erik presses his lips to the telepath's scarlet mouth, pouring his grief and anger and pain into the kiss.

When they finally pull apart, dazed and desperate and panting for air, the world is silent. Sean is no longer singing.

He never sings again.

X - X - X

The children are scared and silent now. Charles is overly cheerful, chattering incessantly as they walk but only Hank manages half-hearted replies. They barely have the energy to speak anymore and Raven and Sean are silent. Raven clings to Charles as she walks, crying weakly. She has no tears left but she sobs dryly, her chest heaving. Charles cries too - in the silence of the night when only Erik can hear him.

Erik holds him then. He lets his friend cry ashy tears into his chest, his arms a comforting barrier around the telepath. In those cold, silent nights Charles' grief is overwhelming, burning through Erik's veins like poison. He wakes the next morning more restless than the night before, urgent to move on, terrified of what will happen if they're discovered.

Erik refuses to stay still long enough to find out.

X - X - X

Their isolation doesn't last. Erik strains his ears against the silence, listening for the intruders. Sean is panting beside him, his eyes wide with fear and Erik can practically see the boy's pulse thumping beneath the smooth curve of his jaw. He lays a steadying hand on the teenager's shoulder, feels the bones jutting sharply through the skin, and violently pushes down the nausea that's rising in him like a wave. He keeps his face schooled into a blank mask.

He hears the footsteps again, pounding ominously on the barren earth like a heart-beat. Charles tenses beside him. Hank growls. Erik curses under his breath because the footsteps are silent now and he knows they've been spotted.

"Someone's in there," a female voice says, sounding faint and far away. "I can hear them breathing." Erik's breath hitches and he presses his hand tight against his own mouth to muffle the sound.

_'Charles' _he thinks desperately. He can feel the panic in the telepath's mind and he knows something is wrong.

_'I can't-' _Charles thinks, confused. _'I think - I think they have a telepath. I can feel him in my mind.' _Erik's chest clenches. The few times they had been discovered before Charles had easily redirected them. With a telepath he won't be able to send them away.

Erik reaches out tentatively, searching for the familiar pulse of metal to protect himself with, but there's only Sean's broken wristwatch dangling pathetically from his wrist. He pulls it towards him anyway and it slips off of the teenager's arm like a living thing, twisting under the metal-bender's ministrations until it's sharp enough to bite.

Earth tumbles away from their makeshift shelter and shafts of weak sunlight pierce through the darkness. Raven's breath falters and her chest shudder's as she chokes on the dust.

"Look what we have here," the same voice says triumphantly. Large amber eyes peer through the rubble, enormous in the woman's gaunt face. Erik tightens his grip on his makeshift weapon and his hand slips on the sweat-slick metal. "It looks like we found ourselves five little rats hiding in a whole." There's laughter behind her and Erik's head jerks towards the sound like a dog.

The girl clambers through the gaping hole in Erik's hiding spot and the metal-bender catches sight of the hulking shadows behind her.

"Get out," Erik growls, "and I won't have to hurt you." He's pleased by how confident he sounds, even as Sean shakes beside him. There's an oppressive presence pulsing at the edges of his mind and Erik shudders with fear and revulsion. Charles is sweating in the darkness and Erik suspects that there is a mental battle occurring.

The woman laughs cruelly and the mutants behind her shoulder their way into the confined space. Erik tenses and his knuckles crack loudly in the strained silence.

"Delicious," she whispers, soft and deadly. A bright sliver of fear trembles down Erik's spine. A tail flickers at her shoulder, slick like a snake, and the metal in Erik's palm twitches eagerly.

"You should leave," Raven snaps in the silence. Erik feels pride swell in his chest at the steady confidence in her voice. There's more laughter from the mutants hunkered at the entrance of their hiding spot and the metal-bender can feel Hank inflate with rage behind him. The woman tuts condescendingly and her tail twitches like a cat's.

"Careful now darlings," she purrs, long fingers curling in the tense air, "we're awful hungry." She grins and her teeth are sharp and dangerous.

Charles steps forward, tense and angry at Sean's shoulder. He raises trembling fingers to his temple and Erik grins in the shadows. For a long moment there is utter silence.

Pain lances through Erik's head. His skull splits open and white hot agony sears through his body. He cries out and, vaguely, through his distress, he can hear the tortured, choking sobs of his family. Erik blinks away the burning tears in his eyes, swiping angrily at his cheeks with trembling hands. His vision clears and the triumphant forms of the other mutants materialise through the darkness.

The woman steps forward, the hulking mass of one of the other mutants shadowing her footsteps. Erik suspects that it's the telepath because his eyes are locked onto Charles'. She crouches low in front of Sean but her amber eyes are trained on Erik's face. She grins, her sharp teeth drawing crimson drops of blood from her lips. Erik tries to control the trembling agony in his body.

"I told you," she murmurs, so quiet that Erik can barely hear her. Her body tenses and she strikes out, catching Sean's cheek with the hard heel of her hand. Sean collapses to the side with a cry, blood on his lips. Erik jerks, snarling in anger. Hank is growling behind him, tense like an arrow ready to fly and Erik is sure that if the telepath weren't an oppressive presence in his mind he would have attacked. The woman laughs low and curls long, tapering fingers around Sean's chin, talon-sharp nails digging into his pale skin. Blood wells around her nails and trickles down her slim hands to her wrists. The boy makes a desperate choking sound.

"Looks good enough to eat," one of the mutants growls, and Erik can hear the desire in his voice. His stomach rolls and he clenches his jaw tight to quench the nausea. The woman licks a delicate, shimmering trail up Sean's cheek and the teenager whimpers, jerking in her grip. Erik's mind flashes to the mutilated corpses strewn across the barren wasteland they had passed through, chunks of hot flesh eaten away by desperate, starving survivors. Erik had never let his family get desperate enough to justify that savage, dangerous behaviour, but he can see that these strangers have no such reservations. Erik shudders. He needs to get his family out of here.

The woman sinks her bright, dangerous teeth into Sean's shoulder and the boy screams in agony. Blood wells at the corner of her mouth. Erik jerks and the metal dagger sings through the air, sinking its vicious point into the woman's delicate neck. Her body jolts like she's been shocked and she falls away from Sean with a gurgling cry. Crimson blood spurts from her wound, hot and bright and vivid. It splashes across Sean's face and chest, a striking stain on his pale skin. Hank roars behind Erik, lunges past Sean and connects with the telepath with a sickening crunch. Erik is on his feet in a second, the metal flowing back into his hand like a living thing. He flings it out of his hand, slashing at the other mutants, catching their chests and faces, carving bright scars into their bodies. Raven darts past Sean, who's lying motionless on the earth, to deliver a swift blow to the telepath's back as he grapples with Hank. For a moment Erik lets himself believe they have the upper hand.

Hank's agonised roar brings him crashing back to earth. The boy staggers away from his opponent, a bright splash of scarlet staining his broad chest. Raven screams, lunges for Hank, but the telepath catches her easily by the back of her neck and slams her bodily into the ground. One of the other mutants is standing behind Hank, his limb a shard of crystal sharp enough to slice through flesh, buried in the teenager's back. The gleaming point, slick with blood, winks in the dim light as it protrudes from Hank's chest. Erik howls, thrusts the metal forward like a sword and the mutant falls away, his throat gaping open in a grotesque parody of a smile. Charles springs to his feet from where he was kneeling beside Sean and flings out his arms, his face twisted with horror.

The world slows down. Time moves sluggishly by and Hank falls in slow motion to the earth. Erik watches him collapse, ignoring the other mutants as their eyes go blank and their faces slack. Charles tears they're minds apart, his anger hot and tangible in the air, until only the other telepath is left, standing above Hank's shuddering body. Erik flicks his wrist and the metal dances through the air, buries itself in the mutant's face and tears his triumphant grin from his head. It's too late to save Hank though.

Raven crawls towards her friend, already sobbing in the deafening silence that follows. She grasps at his blue fur, tears damp on her cheeks, and buries her face in his neck. Hank stares blankly up at her, his eyes no longer seeing the broken world they still inhabit. Erik clutches at his chest, as if he can feel the crystal shard piercing through his ribs and tearing the life from his body and he can feel his own tears dripping down his face. _'This wasn't supposed to happen,'_ he thinks desperately, _'I was supposed to protect them.' _He's failed and he knows it. These children, Charles, they're his family, and he's losing them one by one. Hopelessness crushes him until he can't breathe anymore.

Charles doesn't cry. He wraps Sean's bloodied shoulder in a strip of cloth he tore from the boy's t-shirt and doesn't look at his sister or at Hank's broken body lying amongst the corpses of the mutants that they murdered. Erik lifts Raven gently away from the body of her friend and they leave the cave behind.

X - X - X

They don't bury Hank. Erik covers his body carefully with a blood-stained blanket before carrying Raven out of their hiding-spot, leaving their friend behind in the darkness. It's a waste of precious supplies and Erik's chest hurts at the thought that Hank isn't getting a decent burial, but none of them have the energy to dig a hole big enough to cover Hank's body. Charles supports Sean as they walk, the teenager's arm slung over his shoulders, because the boy is too worn with grief and pain to walk properly. Erik carries Raven gently in his arms because he doesn't trust her to support herself and eyes Charles and Sean with concern. His friend's face is stern and emotionless and Erik feels something writhe uncomfortably in his stomach because Charles isn't supposed to look like that. Sean is pale beneath the blood splashed over his face and chest and his shoulder wound is still bleeding sluggishly.

Erik prays that the wound doesn't get infected because he can't bear to lose anyone else.


End file.
